


That Was the Moment

by Desdemonia



Series: Biweekly Prompt Challenge [2]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Turned Into a Ghost, F/F, Happy Ending, Jadzia Dax Lives, Paranormal Investigators AU, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 22:12:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19839541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desdemonia/pseuds/Desdemonia
Summary: She would’ve been convinced she was seeing another Starfleet member of DS9’s staff, were not for the fact that she could faintly seethroughthem. Transparent, almost opaque against the background of the multi-colored flags. The entity turned slowly, her features becoming more prominent as she pivoted, until she was facing them both."Hello, Ezri." Said Jadzia DaxA mysterious and invisible entity is pranking the members of the Senior Staff of DS9, and Ezri and Kira are tasked with finding it.





	That Was the Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Me, slapping the roof of this fic: _"This bad boy can hold so much Grief Over Jadzia's Death in it!"_

"Now Chief, if you would please start the meeting," Commander Sisko spoke, his voice soft against the background hum of the stations generators.

Chief O’Brien looked distinctly uncomfortable, Ezri realized, being the center of attention all of the sudden, clearly uneasy with what he had to say, "Well, you see," he paused, almost as if thinking it over, "We have a Code Seven Emergency in effect, as of this morning."

The whole room was disquieted at _that_. Everyone knew Starfleet Operations’ Code Seven was an incredibly specific, yet quite often activated emergency code: When a psionic entity of any kind interacted with federation personnel. Ghosts, as some on the crew would say.

"It’s ah, a weird situation alright," O’Brien continued, "At first we were sure it was something physical, or some old protocol of the station, but security footage and some, uh, _personal_ evidence has proven that we’re not dealing with a simple systems malfunction on our hands."

"What the Chief is pointing out here," Sisko said, as he took the reins of the meeting once again, "Is that this _‘Ghost’_ of ours seems to target specific persons on this crew, as if it’s trying to provoke a specific emotion," He turned towards the oval windows of the wardroom, his nostrils flared slight as they do when he’s trying to suppress irritation, Ezri noted, "Take Doctor Bashir, for instance," He pointed at Julian, who seemed to be in a world of his own, and startled slightly at his name.

"Ah, yes, it was uh," He cleared his throat, re-focused on the situation at hand, "Yes, well, as some of you may uh, know" Julian looked so embarrassed there was probably only one thing this could be about, "I have a prized infancy keepsake, a stuffed bear," _Ha! I knew it,_ Ezri though. Why was he so embarrassed of a stuffed animal she would never understand.

"Now, i keep Kukalaka on a shelf over my desk, but for the last three days i have woken at station’s morning, uh, _embracing_ it" Julian cleared his throat _again_ , seamingly finding difficult to continue his story. Ezri couldn’t place it, but she suspected he was almost on the verge of tears for some reason. _Weird_ "And at first i assumed the logical, of course. That I had risen in the middle of the night and took Kukalaka with me to bed, but after digging up the computer’s records of those nights, I discovered this, ah, _eerie_ situation," He turned to the wardroom computer screen and presses a button on the table’s keypad, after which a short video of Julian sleeping stars playing. Julian, holding the covers bunched in his hands, when from the right side of the screen Kukalaka the Bear floats over to the bed, and as if sensing it, Julian turns over and grabs him.

"As you can see," Sisko, coming to stand in front of the screen suddenly. He seemed to take personal offence at the entity’s meddling, not an unusual thing, surely, with his crew being targeted individually, but there was an underlying _something_ that Ezri couldn’t put her finger on, "This entity seems to be trying to communicate, somehow. And it’s trying to do so _specifically_ with this senior staff." He turned to Odo, with a serious face on, "Constable, if you could relate the happenings of yesterday to us?"

Odo got up from the chair, that upon closer inspection quickly morphed back into _him_ , and took a position in front of the table, "Yes, well. It all started at around 0600 hours of yesterday’s shift, I was about to head out to the Security Office when I noticed something quite peculiar," pausing, he proceeds to extend his whole arm towards the table where he clicked the keypad, the Screen showing the interior of Odo’s quarters, with him regenerating inside his container. Suddenly, the smallest of movements can be perceived, and all of his furniture moves a couple of centimeters to the right. There’s _something_ in the back of Ezri’s mind, she can’t seem to grasp it clearly, she supposed the disctractions of the day had been wearing on her, but she _knows_ that this looked very familiar, for some reason. On the screen, Odo has fast-forwarded the footage until he has risen from his regenerative state, ready to go out the door, "As you can see, I discovered the situation right as I was getting ready to leave, my room comm’s sound having come from a slightly different angle."

Odo then turned to a PADD he fished out of his insides, "And lastly, I have here the transcript of a formal complaint issued by _Quark_ ," His face twisted into a grimace, as if Quark’s name itself tasted unpleasant, "And it seems that his personal latinum stash has been emptied and all its contents moved to his nightstand, of all places, and _hrm,_ well" He paused, as if re-reading something on the PADD, "This is an older complaint, as it has happened before some time ago, but it’s worth investigating it again, when there _is_ footage of the latinum just floating out of the small coffer."

At this someone let loose a small gasp, almost inaudible if not for the fact that Ezri was seated just beside her. She turned to Kira, who had a face she tried to maintain when something hurt her deeply, and she decided to let no one know, "Are you alright?" Ezri asked, softly, so no one else would hear. Kira just nodded, steeling herself even more, before turning towards the screen again.

"-And with that, please: Ezri?" Ezri startled a bit at Ben's voice, having been so engrossed in watching Kira for a moment that she completely forgot where they were. Blushing a bit, she turned back to him. "You and the Colonel are the only people on-station right now that have your Code Seven Situational Permits up to date, so I would ask you two to investigate this situation as fast as possible," Face grim, he looked to the side, as if staring at the middle distance, "Even if this entity seems nonviolent, I wouldn't provoke it. Keep us posted." He turned a concerned look to Kira, closed his eyes for a moment and then pivoted to face everyone, "Dismissed."

* * *

"So, where do you think we’ll find the entity?" Ezri askeds, as they’re gearing up in the Security office.

Kira’s face is solid, made of stone, as if there’s something terrible happening that Ezri has not yet noticed, "I don’t know," She said, voice almost hollow, "We could try the upper ore processing bays? There’s never that many people there, most of the time. And it's usually where the weird things start."

"Yeah! Let’s start there, and I was also thinking around the Temple? A lot of spooky stuff seems to happen around there, too," and that’s when Ezri hears the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. She manages to turn around in time to see Kira clutching her foot, on which a heavy Science Field Tricorder has fallen, "Kira! Are you alright?" she drops to her knees, looking Kira’s feet over. Ensuring there’s no lasting damage, she lets her go, looking instead at Kira’s eyes. They can’t seem to meet hers, looking almost vacant, almost dissociative. "Kira? Nerys are you alright?" At that, Kira finally looks at her, almost startled.

"I’m- I’m fine Dax, really," When Ezri just shoots her an incredulous look, she elaborates, "Nothing’s wrong with me, I promise, I just remembered something unpleasant, is all." Assuming she was talking about her time fighting with the resistance, Ezri chooses to drop the subject.

"Well, then. No time like the present! Let’s go be Kira and Ezri, Paranormal Investigators!" She shoots Kira a small smile, which Kira reciprocates. Time to find this ghost, I'm sure nothing will go wrong!"

* * *

Ezri should’ve known. She should have realized, before, why all those _pranks_ , because that’s what they were, looked and sounded so familiar. _She_ had done them. Not as she was now, true, but she remembered, no, _Dax_ remembered having planned all of them. _Jadzia_ had done all of them.

As they entered the underchamber of the Temple, a place that mirrored the main temple’s footprint, and that was used mostly as storage for its belongings, with access only by way of a small lift behind the main entrance, she finally understood. There, at the end of the small narrow room, facing the Bajoran flags where on the temple would be the Orb of Prophecy and Change, with her back towards Ezri, stood a tall figure: Wearing a Starfleet uniform edged in blue at the shoulders, Her long hair tied behind her.

She would’ve been convinced she was seeing another Starfleet member of DS9’s staff, were not for the fact that she could faintly see _through_ them. Transparent, almost opaque against the background of the multi-colored flags. The entity turned slowly, her features becoming more prominent as she pivoted, until she was facing them both.

"Hello, Ezri." Said Jadzia Dax, smiling faintly at her, before turning to Kira, who let out a soft whimper, sounding almost as if in pain. Jadzia’s face contorted into a visage of longing and melancholy, "Hello, Nerys," Ezri thought she could see a tear rolling down her cheeks when Jadzia, her voice rough as if from disuse, smiled softly at Kira, "I’ve missed you."

Kira almost bowled Ezri, in her haste to embrace Jadzia. And Ezri’s almost ready to shout for her to wait, concerned that Kira might just _sail_ through the transparent entity when Jadzia takes a step forward and _catches_ her. She can hear Kira’s sobbing, even as she finds herself crying.

"Jadzia, but- But how! I- I saw you- I Saw you _die_ , _Jadzia_ " Kira’s sobs are uncontrollable, but she has let go of Jadzia, almost falling into Ezri in her haste to get away.

"Yes, that’s the difficult part. I _did_ die." At this, Jadzia’s eyes go unfocused, as if recalling something that had happened a very long time ago, "I remember it. And now I’m, well, _here_ ." she comes to stand next to Kira, who is being embraced by Ezri to stay upright, and as she comes close her shape gets clearer, less transparent, "I don’t know what that means for us, now. Or if I’ll disappear tomorrow, without explanation, but I don’t think I could stay away, not while I knew you were here. Not while I _knew_ you were _all_ so close," Jadzia looks up and Ezri can now clearly see her tears beginning to form, her eyes puffy. She looks down, at Kira who has lifted her hands to hold Jadzia’s face, "I couldn't, well, manifest before, not without you close to me, the way you are now," And that is when Kira kisses her, soundly, taking Jadzia's breath away. They stop before long, but they keep looking at one another, with unmatched intensity.

She’s fully crying now, Jadzia. But so is Ezri, her vision blurry around the edges at seeing something so essential to her _being_ , in front of her. She can see Kira, her face contorted in emotion, her hands now firmly holding Jadzia’s face, her sobs vibrating through Ezri’s body.

Jadzia eyes fall on her then, her smile playful through the tears, "Besides," her smile turns into a grin, infections to Ezri who finds herself smiling too, "I would like to get to know the one holding the ol’ Worm now," and at this Kira starts to laugh, her giggles soft while embracing Jadzia.

And that was the moment. The moment Ezri realized she had never felt so content.


End file.
